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“Yeah, that was a good idea,” Marla said. “Shame you fucked it up so much on the
follow-through. I guess she rigged the train to slow down, fixed it so the power would
go out, and all that. I wondered what she was doing at the control panel. But I don’t get
why she was helping you. She seemed smarter than that.”
“She understood the importance of heart’s blood,” Mutex said. “That there is strength to
be gained from human sacrifice. Our motives were different, but our aims were the
same. I merely wanted her to give me the Cornerstone, but she was no friend to Lao
Tsung, and she convinced me that it would be better to kill him and take the stone
myself.”
“So Bethany just wanted power? She didn’t believe that the universe is winding down
like an old watch, and that it needs a little blood to grease the gears to keep it turning?”
“In time, she would have come to know and respect my gods,” Mutex said, and the
absolute faith in his voice was chilling. “My aims are not selfish ones. I only wish to
prevent the universe from dying, and to return the gods of my ancestors to the position
of glory and respect they deserve. When Bethany looked upon the majesty of the
returned gods, she would have been filled with faith. But for the time being, though
motivated by baser desires for power and flesh, she could still offer considerable
assistance. She knew the other sorcerers would oppose her, so she could not help me
openly. Once control of the city passed to her, she planned to help me bring back the old
gods, and take control.”
“Probably by calling an emergency meeting of all the surviving sorcerers, am I right?”
Marla said. “Get them all in a room to talk about the Aztec menace, and then lock the
doors and let you mow them down. Or else just hit them all with tasers, to keep the meat
fresh.”
Mutex shrugged. “It was an elegant plan, but it seems it shall not come to pass. It
sometimes pleases the gods to confront us with adversity. It is not the first time things
have not gone according to plan. Is Bethany dead?”
Marla didn’t glance down at Bethany. She didn’t think the sorceress was dead—B
hadn’t hit her that hard, and Bethany most likely had spells to protect her skull. “Why
do you ask?”
“If she is dead, then I will summon her noble warrior’s spirit back to this world when
the gods return.”
“What, as a hummingbird?” Rondeau said. “Pretty fucking stupid form for a noble
warrior spirit, don’t you think?”
Mutex frowned, and Marla cheered Rondeau silently. Zealots hated blasphemy, and
Rondeau blasphemed as easily as most people blinked. “Hummingbirds are a fitting
vessel for the returned souls of dead warriors. But no. Once I have brought the old gods
back to life, I will be able to open the gates to the Land of the Dead, and welcome the
warriors back in approximations of their mortal forms.”